This post is for voting and discussion in the 72nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This round begins to add to the ballot those players born in 1913. Rules and lists are after the jump.
Players born in 1913 are being brought on to the COG eligible list over two rounds, split in half based on last names — the top half by alphabetical order this round and the bottom half next round. This round’s new group joins the holdovers from previous rounds, plus three candidates who return to the ballot after getting the three highest vote totals from the just-completed redemption round, to comprise the full set of players eligible to receive your votes this round.
The new group of 1913-born players, in order to join the eligible list, must have played at least 10 seasons in the major leagues or generated at least 20 Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, as calculated by baseball-reference.com, and for this purpose meaning 20 total WAR for everyday players and 20 pitching WAR for pitchers).
Each submitted ballot, if it is to be counted, must include three and only three eligible players. The one player who appears on the most ballots cast in the round is inducted into the Circle of Greats. Players who fail to win induction but appear on half or more of the ballots that are cast win four added future rounds of ballot eligibility. Players who appear on 25% or more of the ballots cast, but less than 50%, earn two added future rounds of ballot eligibility. Any other player in the top 9 (including ties) in ballot appearances, or who appears on at least 10% of the ballots, wins one additional round of ballot eligibility.
All voting for this round closes at 11:59 PM EDT Wednesday, October 1, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:59 PM EDT Monday, September 29.
If you’d like to follow the vote tally, and/or check to make sure I’ve recorded your vote correctly, you can see my ballot-counting spreadsheet for this round here: COG 1913 Part 1 Vote Tally. I’ll be updating the spreadsheet periodically with the latest votes. Initially, there is a row in the spreadsheet for every voter who has cast a ballot in any of the past rounds, but new voters are entirely welcome — new voters will be added to the spreadsheet as their ballots are submitted. Also initially, there is a column for each of the holdover candidates; additional player columns from the new born-in-1913 group will be added to the spreadsheet as votes are cast for them.
Choose your three players from the lists below of eligible players. The fourteen current holdovers (eleven from the previous regular induction round, and three returned via the redemption round) are listed in order of the number of future rounds (including this one) through which they are assured eligibility, and alphabetically when the future eligibility number is the same. The 1913 birth-year guys are listed below in order of the number of seasons each played in the majors, and alphabetically among players with the same number of seasons played. In total there were 13 players born in 1913 who met the “10 seasons played or 20 WAR” minimum requirement. Six of those are being added to the eligible list this round (alphabetically from Tiny Bonham to Tommy Henrich). The seven players further down in the alphabet will be added next round.
The six candidates born in 1913 being added to the eligible list this round represent an unusually low number of birth-year additions for a COG round. Guys born in 1913 and the years just before and after who were good enough ballplayers to merit long major league careers were likely to be serving in the military in World War II, reducing the chance that those born in this segment of years would accumulate the playing time needed to qualify for the COG eligible list. That plus our practice of splitting the birth-year class and adding it to the eligible list over two rounds, something we’ve been doing do every third induction round of voting, is resulting in very few entirely new candidates this election. Fortunately, we also happen at this moment to be bringing back into eligibility three “redeemed” candidates, which we’ve been doing every tenth induction round. That means that despite only six completely new candidates on the eligible list there should be some interestingly fresh issues for you to confront as you cast your votes.
Holdovers and Redemption Round Selections:
Whitey Ford (eligibility guaranteed for 8 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Lou Boudreau (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Joe Gordon (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Harmon Killebrew (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Kevin Brown (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Roy Campanella (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Eddie Murray (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Dennis Eckersley (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Minnie Minoso (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Rick Reuschel (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Luis Tiant (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Dave Winfield (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Everyday Players (born in 1913, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Tommy Henrich
Roy Cullenbine
Lee Handley
Pitchers (born in 1913, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Mort Cooper
Tiny Bonham
Al Brazle
